Falling S-l-o-w-l-y
by InLoveWithLaughing
Summary: A year in the life of Lily Evans as she falls s-l-o-w-l-y for James Potter. Some Jily romance for Montley.
1. The January Chapter

For the _A Year In The Life Challenge _and _The Spring Fic Exchange_ the_ HPFC Forum, _but mostly for the wonderful **Montley**.

Prompts used: Pumpkin juice

Description: A year in the life of Lily Evans as she falls s-l-o-w-l-y for James Potter. Some Jily romance for **Montley. **

Rating: K+

_Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Harry Potter._

* * *

Marlene McKinnon drifted lazily around the Quidditch pitch, watching as the other players zoomed around, loud and boisterous. The breeze picked up a little and blew a few strands of her soft brown hair out of its ponytail, but the sun shone steadily on, warming up the earth like it was May instead of January. Everyone was taking advantage of the nice weather, and the Quidditch stands were packed full.

It was a wonder she could hear anything above the shouts and cheers and general chatter, but she was sure somebody had just called her name. She turned and, yes, James Potter was yelling at her to get her act together and _catch the bloody snitch already_. She smiled lightly at him, wondering if Lily would mind very much if she hexed him. Probably not, she thought, but Gryffindor would never forgive me if I ruined our chances of winning the cup.

Instead she flew higher, higher, higher, until the players looked like tiny figurines and she could hardly hear the crowd's cheers. Here, she could think. Her thoughts were centred on the very Potter she had wanted to curse and, more importantly, her very own Lily Evans. Specifically, her thoughts were centred on a way to get said woman to realise her not-so-platonic feelings for said man.

Marlene was the first to admit that Potter wasn't ideal, but he would be good to Lily, and all Marlene wanted was her friend to be happy. And for her to have a good shag already so she wouldn't be able to tell Marlene off for visiting to lads' dormitory every now and again. It was a win-win, as Marlene told Emmeline and Dorcas. The other two girls who made up their little group were just as eager to get Lily on a date, although their intentions were admittedly a little more honourable.

A flash of gold told Marlene her time was up, and she was immediately focused on catching the snitch. She angled her broom down in a sharp dive and smile contentedly as the wind stung her face and the roar of the crowd got louder and louder. The snitch was cool and smooth in her hand as she landed gracefully and was swept up in dozen hugs and slaps on the back. Everyone was talking at once, but nobody seemed to be saying anything in particular and they barely noticed when Marlene disappeared. She ducked under somebody's arm and grabbed Dorcas and Emmeline's hands, pulling them off the side with a wicked grin on her face.

OoO

Lily Evans was walking calmly to the Common Room when her friends pounced on her, chatting excitedly over one another and all trying to get her attention at once. She pulled her book tighter to her chest as a sort of shield and tried to make sense of what they were saying.

"-amazing, Lily! You should have been there-" Dorcas was predictably raving about the stunts pulled in the Quidditch match. Being terrified of heights herself, Dorcas was easily impressed by those more talented on a broom than she.

"Remus only let in two goals, and they tried to score dozens of times-" Emmeline had never really gotten over Remus Lupin after they broke up last year.

And Marlene was, of course, talking about James Potter. "-really disappointed you weren't there. He was going to ask your permission to have a party, since Gryffindor won."

Lily chose this to address first. "So, he's going to ask permission for once?"

Marlene's face fell slightly, and a small crease appeared between her bright blue eyes. "Well, no. But only because you weren't there. He was _going _to ask, that counts for something, right?"

Lily snorted, "No. It only counts if he can wait ten minutes to find me and ask permission."

"He doesn't really need your permission though," Emmeline said, "Only one prefect needs to give the okay, and Amanda already said yes."

Lily chose not to dignify that with an answer. She turned to Dorcas, and wasn't surprised to see the girl wasn't really listening to them at all.

"What are you thinking about?" She said, elbowing her gently.

Dorcas turned dreamy eyes on her, but her smirk was positively wicked. "I was just thinking James Potter looked _very _nice on his broom today," she said innocently.

Lily felt her face flush hotly and irrational anger for her friend rose up in her. She clenched her jaw and looked away. "Why would I care?"

"You asked what I was thinking, I just told you."

Emmeline chose this moment to strike up a conversation about the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend with Dorcas, saving her from a sharp remark that Lily would regret later. Marlene caught Lily's eyes and tried to make her smile as innocent at Dorcas' but judging from Lily's narrowed eyes and quickly disappearing lips, it didn't work.

They arrived at the Gryffindor Common Room a few minutes later, rounding the corner just in time to see James Potter and Sirius Black carrying a large crate between them towards the portrait hole.

"What are you doing?" Lily said loudly.

Both men jumped guiltily, but to their credit they faced the girls head on. James let go of his side of the crate, leaving Sirius to stumble and try to put it down without breaking his toes. "We're just stocking up on refreshments, my darling Lily-flower," he said with what was surely supposed to be winning grin.

"Don't call me that. And what refreshments are they?"

This was where James was stuck. He didn't want to and couldn't lie, his honest nature causing him to break out in girlish giggles and go red whenever he tried. But he also didn't want to and couldn't tell Lily that the crate hid bottles of firewhiskey, bought perfectly legally by the 17-year-old Sirius Black, and taken into school illegally by the two of them.

"It's pumpkin juice," Sirius said, stepping forward with a persuasive smile, "Just lovely, non-alcoholic pumpkin juice. We're going to put them in the dormitory until the Valentine's Day party."

"Why not drink them at the Quidditch party I was not told about," Lily said.

James looked guiltier than ever, but Sirius looked innocent as a child. "I don't know what you're talking about, Evans. We're just going to have a small get-together this evening, that's all, and Pete is talking to House Elves about refreshments for that."

Unable to force them to show her the drinks, but still highly suspicious, Lily swept by them and went upstairs to her dormitory. Marlene followed her, Dorcas and Emmeline going back to their respective Common Rooms to get ready for the 'get-together'.

"You know, if you were his girlfriend James might ask your permission for stuff like this," Marlene said casually once they were alone.

Lily whirled around, face red again and eyes blazing. "Don't even go there Marlene. I will _never _date James Potter."

* * *

_Hope you love it __**Montley. **_

_There will be twelve chapters of this story, one for each month of the year, and can somebody tell me if it's supposed to be Quidditch pitch or Quidditch field? Leave a review :)_


	2. The February Chapter

For the _A Year In The Life Challenge _and _The Spring Fic Exchange_ the_ HPFC Forum, _but mostly for the lovely **Montley**.

Prompts used: Dare

Description: A year in the life of Lily Evans as she falls s-l-o-w-l-y for James Potter. Some Jily romance for **Montley. **

Rating: K

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

* * *

Lily fought the urge to cover her ears as she entered the Common Room. The music (muggle music, she noted with interest) was far too loud, and everyone was shouting at each other as they tried to carry on a conversation. Thankfully though, most of the dancing had stopped while she'd been at the library, and remaining students were clustered in little groups around the room.

She spotted Sirius Black sprawled on the carpet with Peter and Remus, and wondered where James was. Her fingers curled around her bag strap tightly as she told herself she didn't care and marched to the armchairs surrounding the crackling fire.

Two fourth years were tentatively snogging, and jumped apart guiltily as she approached. She sent them to their respective dormitories with a look and collapsed into a chair. She'd have liked nothing better than to go straight to bed, but knew if she did she'd probably wake up tomorrow to find the party still going on. Better she stay and make sure everyone went to bed by two.

She jumped violently as a giggling Dorcas fell backwards into her lap, her face flushed and baring the remains of tears. "Are you okay?" Lily said, frowning down at her.

"She's fine," Emmeline said, appearing in front of her. The tall girl looked remarkably steady, but she didn't seem to have noticed that one of her shoes was glowing and humming suspiciously. Nor did she notice when Lily cast a _Finite _on said shoe.

"I'd be happy to escort you two ladies," Sirius said, slinging an arm around Emmeline. It was testament to how drunk she was that she didn't immediately shake him off.

"Go back to your friends, Black." Lily smiled gratefully at Benjy as he shoved Sirius slightly and tugged on Emmeline's hand. "Come on Dorcas, up you get. No, I'm not drunk, but you are, so come on."

The three walked away, leaving Sirius grinning down at Lily. "So, where's your drunk buddy?" he said conversationally.

"My what?" Lily said with a sigh, knowing it was easier to just go along with it.

"You know, your drunk buddy. The person you stay with no matter what when you're drinking, so you don't end up doing something you regret, like snogging a ugly lass. 'course, this means you normally end up snogging your buddy. Moony's mine."

"I'm not drinking," Lily said, looking around for Sirius' "drunk buddy". He appeared a moment later and put a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

"Come on, Sirius. You'll kill me tomorrow if I let you get hexed."

The men left, and Lily once again relaxed. A second later Marlene was by her side, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. "Come on, Lils. We're playing truth of dare!"

"How old are we? Twelve?" Lily said, trying to pull away.

Marlene ignored Lily's protests, tightening her grip and pulling her to the loose circle that was forming in the middle of the room. Lily glanced around surreptitiously for James (just so she knew where the next explosion was going to come from, of course).

"He's took Mary up to his dorm about half an hour ago," Marlene said with a laugh.

Lily reddened; apparently she hadn't been as stealthy as she'd thought. "Mary shouldn't be there," she said, "And James shouldn't be taking advantage of a drunk, young girl like that, I should-"

"Mary is eighteen," Marlene said, sitting down and pulling Lily with her, "And neither she nor James was drunk. I know, hard to believe, right? Now stop worrying and drink this."

Lily looked down at the seemingly innocent bottle Marlene shoved at her and took it with a sigh.

"I'll go first!" Sirius said, "Moony, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I dare you to finally live up to your name. Put that arse out the window!"

Lily inwardly groaned, and took a big mouthful of "pumpkin juice"; she was going to need it.

OoO

Lily laughed hysterically as Frank's pink face fell into his hands. Alice Fortescue fell forward on her hands and knees and gave him a sloppy kiss on the head and Sirius and Peter wolf whistled madly. Lily tried to whistle too, but gave a little hiccup instead.

"My turn," Marlene, who was still surprisingly sober, said, "I dare Lily to be _friendly _to James Potter."

Lily blinked stupidly at her friend, trying to make her addled brain realise that it was a horrible dare. "You can't do that," she said finally, "Dares have to be things that can happen right now."

"Alright. I dare you to snog Sirius, then."

"No!"

"Then you have to do a forfeit. Your forfeit is to be nice to James, and agree next time he asks you on a date. No, actually, to agree next time he asks you to anything," said the triumphant Marlene.

Lily glanced desperately around the circle for help. Everybody grinned at her, and nobody offered any help. "But he always asks me to marry him," she said.

Marlene shrugged. "Not my problem. And you _have _to do. Everyone here is watching you and we'll know if you don't. If anyone here thinks you're not fulfilling your promise then we'll make sure James knows how much you _love _to be serenaded in the middle of breakfast."

Lily was helpless, and knew it too. "James won't want me to say yes because I'm being forced," she said in a last ditch attempt to save herself.

"He won't know. Does everyone promise not to tell James?"

There was a murmur of agreement from everyone. Lily glared at Marlene and staggered to her feet. "I'm going to bed," she said with all the dignity she could muster, and stumbled up the stairs to the dormitory.

All three of her roommates were still downstairs, so nobody was witness to Lily's attempt at undressing but her face was still burning as she fell into bed. Despite her fuzzy, tired head, she did not go straight to sleep. She thought of James, and what she was going to do if he _did _ask her to marry him. She'd have to say no of course. For some reason this disappointed her.

She groaned and buried her head under the pillow. She was never drinking again.


End file.
